Saturday, January 11, 2014

ian at fifteen months

although i disbanded my monthly ian updates after his first birthday, i actually have missed keeping track of all of his accomplishments. i decided for the next year to update on the quarters (15, 18, 21 and 24 months).

january 3, 2014

weight: somewhere upward of 25lbs

height: somewhere upward of 30" tall

(ian's pediatrician requested a 16 month check up, so we won't have actual stats until next month)

after looking back at ian's twelve month post, i'm astonished to see the difference three months makes! at one year, ian had only just begun to start eating with any sort of appetite for table food. he wouldn't let me feed him and had to do everything independently. even while he was getting better, he was still rather choosy and was on a small selection of staple items. in the last few weeks, since the beginning of december really, he has suddenly taken to eating full meals! new things require a couple tries before he takes to them, but he's definitely doing really well. he also has started to feed himself with a baby spoon and fork. the best part of this is he will now let me help with an additional spoon. meal time is much less stressful now i know he is getting more solid nutrition. finally, we have started him on a little bit of whole milk in the past couple weeks. he absolutely hated it the first time and spat it out and refused the sippy cup...poor boy...not what he was expecting! although he is not drinking any great amount, he does now take a few sips with breakfast and dinner without spitting it out. i'm in no rush for him to be drinking a huge quantity as he is still nursing and i don't intend for it to be a replacement, but simply acquiring a taste for it.

speaking of nursing, ian still nurses 3-4 times a day. he always nurses first thing in the morning (and now asks for it as soon as he is awake, along with yelling for the dog!), before his morning nap (unless we are out and busy), sometime in the afternoon and then before bed. up until mid-december, we were still nursing in the night, although i had very mixed feelings about it. it would always get him back to sleep (he was still waking 2-3 times), but i knew it was a crutch. arriving at my parents, my mum confirmed what i had been already thinking, so i decided just to go cold turkey. the first couple nights he woke and i just put him in the ergo (he loves that thing!) and after getting mad at me for a minute for not nursing, he dropped right back off to sleep! brilliant. and with that, we ended night nursing. boom ;)

speaking of sleeping, right around the time we weaned from night nursing, surprise surprise, ian started sleeping through the night! i could quite easily say "i wish we had night weaned earlier", but i don't think it would have made much difference in when he started sleeping through the night. i'm glad i was able to comfort him until he was ready and now i'm enjoying sleeping a full night again (most nights). we do have teething still interrupting some nights, but other than that, he's pretty much there and i couldn't be happier :)

as i supposed back at twelve months, his molars were on the move and we started to see the telltale bumps in the gums, but no teeth actually breaking through. it wasn't until december when things actually started to show up. since then all four molars have broken through, the bottom two most recently arriving on new year's eve. ian's doing a really good job dealing with four all descending together, but i can tell he's definitely uncomfortable, some days more than others. thank goodness he will get a bit of a break after these are done.

it seems hard to continue on with ian's moving skills seeing as he was already running back at twelve months!! that being said, he is definitely figuring out how to go faster! {help me now!} he is much more confident in his walking and falls way less often than he used to. ian also now dances when he hears music and can also jump (with both feet clearing the ground) and land again without falling over. {this kid...i'm telling you ;)} unfortunately he has also figured out that he can move vertically, in addition to his already speedy horizontal motion. i left him for a minute the other day to run upstairs and grab the dog, only to find him snuggled in the corner of the couch when i returned downstairs! little stinker ;) we've finally also cracked coming down the stairs backwards. he's been climbing up the stairs for months now, but it wasn't until our recent christmas visit to my parent's house that he successfully navigated coming down safely. it is quite funny to watch now he knows what he's doing, as he goes almost straight as a board and just slides down. lol!

just shy of thirteen months, ian spoke his first word. we didn't realize it the very first time...heard it and thought, "no way he actually just said that..." then he repeated it the next day and we started whooping and hollering "our baby is talking!!!!!" first word...doggie. and he pointed at link as he said it. couldn't have been more perfect :) he and link are best friends, so i love that link inspired his first word. over the next few days, ian started pointing at pictures of dogs in books or out on a walk and saying "doggie". it was a magical week for us as first time parents. there is nothing like hearing your baby's first word! after that first week, he started learning animal sounds, he cemented "mummy" and "dada" and picked up a couple funny pronunciations along the way. here is a small sampling of his current vocal:
mummy
dada
ghee (link)
doggie
moo
baa
ee ee ee (monkey sound)
vroom vroom
meow
stickies (our word for wiping hands after eating)
dirty
nana
ah-ma (grandma)
neigh
job (in reply to me saying "good job!")
blobbyblobbyblobby (don't ask!)
yum yum (when he's hungry)
yummy (when he's enjoying what he's eating)

in addition to talking, ian has also figured out a lot of communication via hand gestures and other sounds. we've also come to notice that he understands everything we ask of him. whether he chooses to do it is another thing entirely, but he knows...he definitely knows ;)

playtime with ian becomes increasingly more fun day by day. with his increased appetite for reading and books, we spend a good portion of our day reading. i also recently cleared a little corner in our living room and put a pillow, ian's birthday quilt and a basket of books there for him to read. the next morning he found the cozy spot, snuggled in and grabbed a couple books to start reading. lovelovelove!

ian received some lovely toys for christmas, but our tiny living just cannot hold all of them. i decided to start a toy rotation in the new year and it's working out well so far. this rotation ian has had access to a puzzle, wooden blocks, cars and other vehicles, a wooden shape sorter, assorted cuddlies, a wooden activity center, a music cube and some stuffed fruits and vegetables. he had just started building block towers before thanksgiving and can now get them six or so high, if he doesn't knock it over reaching for more blocks! he absolutely adores his cars and vroom vrooms them around the house like crazy. it's extremely cute :) he really has focused more on the toys he's had for the last ten days or so. i plan to switch on the 1st and 15th of each month (unless it seems like he starts to the need them on a weekly basis) and replace each category with something similar. it will be intriguing to see how he responds to the new toys. {side note: his books aren't included in the rotation and are available around the house in several baskets for him to read.}

and now for some outtakes...it's getting so hard to get pics of this speed demon!

finally, i will leave you with this delightful picture. i didn't realize at the time quite how hilarious his facial expression was. once i downloaded the photos to my laptop and was looking through, i cracked up when i found this. coupled with the picture right before it in the sequence, i had tears streaming down my face. hubby came in from the other room to see what all the fuss was about and started laughing just as much as i was. in fact i'm cracking up as i'm typing this, seeing the gif switching back and forth below my text! lol!!!

if you made it to the end of this post, congratulations dear reader! we'll be back with more ian updates at 18 months!

cara

about me

i am a 20-something christian wife of seven years and am married to my best friend. until september 2012, i spent my days teaching children about the gift of music. i enjoy crafting, photography, bargain shopping, cooking and gathering fun ideas from elsewhere in the blogosphere.

in june 2011, hubby and i bought our first home in salem, massachusetts. shortly thereafter, we brought home our furbaby, a yorkshire terrier named link. he quickly became a subject of my photography and is now a steadfast member of our little family.

in october 2012, we welcomed our handsome baby boy, ian peter, into this crazy world. he recently celebrated his second birthday and is in full toddler mode.

in june 2014 we moved our little family to danvers, massachusetts to a historic home that needs a little lovin'. the reason for our move was to gain a tad more space due to the arrival of our darling daughter, lydia ruth, in october 2014.

my days now revolve around taking care of my two little ones, keeping our house in some semblance of tidiness and attempting to find time to craft and cook for my own enjoyment :) hope you enjoy following along with our crazy life!